


untitled bucky/steve

by magumarashi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2019-03-13 05:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13563993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magumarashi/pseuds/magumarashi
Summary: steve can't sleep





	untitled bucky/steve

**Author's Note:**

> _this was originally posted to my wordpress on 9/15/14_
> 
> I wrote this after watching winter soldier. idk exactly when this takes place, probably far enough along that there’s been significant therapy/reconciliation for bucky orz (he’s still not very sociable, but he can at least talk to steve).

Steve wasn’t sure what time it was when he woke up. The plushness of the king-sized hotel bed evidently didn’t provide enough comfort for him to sleep through the night. He sighed, debating whether to steal a glance at the clock.

Following up a high-profile mission with an Avengers publicity event across the country was not exactly how Steve would have handled things, but Fury had told him that it couldn’t be helped. They’d booked the hotel months in advance, and the mission had been on short notice. The result was that Steve could hardly sleep for the gunshots haunting his dreams–-it usually took about a week to recover from the stress of a mission, and a two-day turnaround was simply not enough. At this rate, he had a bleary-eyed public appearance ahead of him.

3:30 AM. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. He could probably sneak in another two and a half hours if his brain would let him.

He turned away from the clock, shifting instead to face the other side of the bed, where his plus-one seemed to be sleeping much more soundly than he was. Bucky Barnes didn’t even relax in his sleep, Steve noticed: arms folded tightly, brow furrowed beneath the mess of brown hair that fell haphazardly in his face; he looked like he was brooding on something rather than sleeping. If Steve couldn’t hear his friend’s slow, even breathing, he wouldn’t have thought he was sleeping at all.

It had taken a lot of wheedling for Fury to agree to let Steve bring Bucky in the first place, and a lot more wheedling to get Bucky to agree to come. Contrary to how he’d been in the old days, loud, flashy events were no longer his thing. He preferred being alone, or spending time one-on-one with someone, rather than being in a large group. A huge public event with flashing cameras and screaming fans was the opposite of his idea of a good time. When Steve first pitched the idea, Bucky cursed loudly, threw up his hands, and spat back a resounding “No.” But Steve had persisted. If he was going to bring a guest to this event, he wanted Bucky. No one else would do.

Steve shifted a little; his arm was starting to fall asleep beneath him. He eyed Bucky’s prosthetic arm a little enviously. The man could probably sleep on that arm indefinitely and not feel a thing.

He knew Bucky wouldn’t feel it, but he couldn’t help reaching over and lightly brushing his fingers over the cold metal prosthetic. He moved from the wrist to the elbow, feeling each bump as his fingers passed over the boundaries between the plating. He hardly noticed when his fingers ran into Bucky’s, warm and rough against the smooth, cool metal.

Bucky, however, noticed. He woke with a jolt and aimed a sleepy glare at Steve.

“The hell, Steve…? What time is it?”

“Sorry,” Steve withdrew his hand quickly, “You can go back to sleep, Bucky, it’s pretty late…”

“What are _you_ doing up, then?

“I… I can’t sleep, Buck.”

“Really? What’s eating you?”

“The usual… it was a rough mission a couple days ago.”

“Ah…” Bucky had long since been desensitized to war and violence, so he couldn’t say he understood where his friend was coming from. But he knew these things bugged Steve, so he at least had the decency to watch his tongue, “You, uh… you wanna talk about it?”

“Not particularly…”

“Gotcha. I’m going back to sleep, then.”

Bucky shifted back into his previous position, drawing his arms tighter around himself.

“Do you always sleep like that?” asked Steve.

“What? Yeah, I guess… This arm isn’t the most comfortable thing, but it doesn’t get all tingly like my other one does.”

_Knew it_ , Steve thought to himself.

“You always keep your arms crossed when you sleep?”

“Yeah. It’s… well, I get cold real easily, and I _hate_ being cold. The metal doesn’t help, either.”

“Are you cold now?”

“What? No. Not really. This is the warmest bed I’ve ever slept in. It’s… it’s kinda nice. So many years sleeping on shitty cots and you kinda forget how a bed _should_ feel–-why are you looking at me like that, Steve?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Yeah right. Those puppy-dog eyes aren’t fooling anyone.”

“I’m… I’m gonna try to head back to sleep.”

Bucky smirked.

“Good fuckin’ luck. I know you and that mission cooldown time of yours.”

“Haha, yeah…” Steve didn’t have a particularly positive outlook on his chances of getting to sleep either, but trying was better than doing nothing.

“Hey.” Bucky shifted a little, letting his right hand rest on the bed, “If you feel like talking about it, you know… I won’t mind if you need to wake me up. Well, I will, but I’ll deal with it. End of the line and all that.”

Steve couldn’t help smiling. He slid his own hand close to Bucky’s, brushing the other’s thumb just slightly.

“Thanks, Bucky.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously though. Don’t.”

Their fingers intertwined, almost as if they moved of their own accord. Steve gave Bucky’s hand a squeeze.

“You going to be alright tomorrow? You know, at the thing?”

“If you let me sleep, _maybe_.”

“Alright, alright. G’night, Bucky.”

“Go the fuck to sleep, Steve.”

Steve closed his eyes, running his thumb absentmindedly over Bucky’s. He didn’t expect to fall asleep quickly; in fact, he dreaded returning to his usual dreams of war and darkness. This time was different. Having Bucky to hold on to felt… _right,_ somehow. As if his friend’s presence was all he needed to stay grounded. Bucky would be there for him whether the battlefield was real or all in his head, and knowing that, he felt more at ease than he had in a long time. It wasn’t long before Steve drifted into a dreamless sleep, fingers still twined with Bucky’s.


End file.
